Good Times
by OrangeMonk3y
Summary: AU. Remnants they called them, all that remained of a person after life but before complete death. The animated corpses of loved ones and enemies, all working together for one purpose; to satisfy their hunger… with living flesh.
1. Prelude

Author's Note: Okay, usually I'm gonna put these at the end, but I just want to tell you guys, that yes, it is VERY reminiscent of a certain show on AMC, I would like to say that this is sort of a cross-over, but since I don't think I'll be sticking to that storyline very closely, I didn't actually make it a total cross-over. Um, This first little section is just some character background, which I'll refer and expand upon later... Oh yeah, I don't do lemons, yaoi, yuri, and I don't actually write bad language down (but I do half write it/ refer to it), but this is going to be pretty violent, so yeah, it's rated T (but could change to M). (just to be safe. I don't want hate mail front FanFiction about it not being rated properly.) Um, that's it. Read, Rate, Review, and enjoy! (p.s. This one is short since it's the prelude.) BTW, if the words are too close together, you can sort of adjust it over there. ^ (I don't know how to adjust it on my end.)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, blah, blah, blah, or zombies.

_Prelude:_

_ Skidding across the concrete alley and subsequently slamming into the dumpster to stop, effectively scaring the daylights out of the drunken hobo that lived around the other side, he picked himself up for one more time. Vision blurring red from the gashes on either side of his eyes, he looked into the eyes of his would-be murderer... and smiled. Would today be the day he died? Or would this be just like every other job he'd pulled, narrow escape and all that? Well actually, his partner was out for the day, so his chances were looking kinda slim, which is exactly the type of thrill that made this job worth it. Money helped too, of course. Spitting out a few pebbles and a tooth, he stepped towards his attacker once more, "That all you got?"_

_ Biting back the tears, she tried to push the voices out of her mind. But really? She couldn't. They were always there, and they made it hard to focus on anything. She was in her favorite place and sighed heavily as she laid back and tried to forget everything... and block out the voices that never went away..._

_ Sitting impatiently in the waiting room, he said a silent prayer. Finally, the doctor came back, and his hope sunk to the pit of his stomach as he heard what the doctor said. Was that really all that was left? What was he supposed to do now? Hope was all he'd had left..._

_ Scrubbing harshly, she sighed again as a customer made a rude comment about her rear and she wished again for that hero she used to know. A well out in the cold... Strange how nothing turned out right for her. Ever. She went away again to that place and ignored the drunken idiots as they made passes at her or tried to slap her butt._

_ Staring complacently out the window, she wondered how things were back in her homeland. Wondered how her father was faring. Why should she? He was the one who'd sent her away! Without even batting an eye! She hated him...more than anything..._

_ Laying in a world of white, he asked if this was what death was. He couldn't find his way out and the fleeting voices he'd heard had stopped. He'd wandered here for who knows how long, but now he'd given up and laid down. If death was an eternity of nothing then maybe that's why everyone feared it so much._

**Death was the beginning... **

It was chaos. He was running frantically down the streets trying to find his goal when he saw one of them attacking a girl...he didn't get there in time. It ripped out her jugular with its teeth and started gnawing on her open wound. Eating through muscle and even bone, their hunger never ending. With a swift motion he beheaded the thing with the huge sword he had, but it still clicked its jaw back and forth as though trying to continue eating the girl. Looking back, if he'd known that you had to destroy the brain or else they'd rise again, he would have and he'd more than likely never reached his destination in time, so as luck would have it, he didn't know at the time and he raced past the girl and the half-dead thing that was still clicking its jaw open and closed. When he reached the hospital, he realized just how bad it had gotten. There were no doctors or staff of any kind, not living at least, left in the building, and there were several corridors he had to avoid, slamming doors behind him and barricading them as best he could not wasting any time. He'd been in the army, the special unit called SOLDIER actually, and so he new what was heading this way, which is exactly why he'd left his post and come here. His brother, an infantry grunt, had been injured on a mission and med-evac'd here, to one of the best medical institutes around as per his own request, but now that this... He had a limited amount of time to get him and get out. He was running out of time, if only he could find the nurse's station that had information on where his brother was! He was running down a corridor when suddenly a ax swung near his head, actually it would have been his head except he dodged it in the nick of time. The red head who was wielding the ax stated "whoah" in response to the swift dodge and immediately followed it with "You ever been to Costa del Sol?" To which he replied, "What?" "Oh, you're cool. Sorry, my bad, I thought you were one of them." "How do you know I'm not?" "They don't usually talk to you before eating you." "Hey, do you know where the head nurse's station is?" "Yeah, you were just running away from it." "Crap!" "Hey! Don't go back there! They're everywhere back there! What do you need from there anyway?" "A patient file. My brother..." "Look, uh, dude most of the patients, well they were easy to catch as they couldn't run, so..." "Blonde, spiky hair. You seen him?" "No, dude, what I'm saying is... Hey! Wait up!"

_Who was this guy? Running around like a chicken with his head cut off lookin' for this brother of his. Yeesh, trouble if ever it was definable. So he followed him. _

Finally, he actually almost didn't even see him, but out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of yellow and quickly halted and turned back busting into the room without even thinking. The red-head following him whispered something inaudible behind him, most likely a swear of some sort, and he came into the room as well. He was trying to unhook the machines in as fast a manner as he could without totally hurting his brother whom they were attached to. "Dude, some of this is like, life-support. What's gonna happen if you remove it?" "... He'll be fine. Won'tcha buddy. Yeah, we just have to get you outta here." The sound of jets over head resounded through the complex making the glass tremble and crack in some places. "Crap! Crap! Crap!" he shouted as he moved faster. "Help me out, okay?" "Sure! What was that?" "That was the jets flying in because they're gonna level this whole city in a strafing raid in about... three or four minutes." "SHIIIIIIIIII-"

Pulling his brother over his shoulder while his red-head friend broke the window (heck if he was going to run through the halls again with those things out there and an air-raid on the way!) he jumped out of the window and the two hastily ran toward a direction that seemed to be out of town.

They made it but just barely, as the shock-wave from the huge blast behind them knocked the flat on their faces and sent his brother flying through the air from impact. He wasn't sure just how long he'd been out, but he was brought to by a dog licking his face. It was a big red dog of some sort (it looked sort of like a maned wolf mixed with something else, actually) and it had a collar on it but on the dog-tag was only the Roman Numeral XIII. He looked around to see his red-haired friend wiping drool of his face and saying, "Yeah, he got me too." Then he realized his brother was missing and sat up quickly while spinning around trying to locate the blonde. He found him, a few feet from where he himself had been. Except for a few more scratches and bruises, it seemed they'd gotten out okay, well actually his friend had a broken nose which he was snapping back into place and cursing as he did it, but it was really hard to understand what he was saying because of the funny way he spoke with an injured nose. After snapping it back into place, he grabbed a piece of bandage which he'd "acquired" at the hospital and promptly shoved it in his nose to stifle the bleeding. "Wdel? Wdut dow?"


	2. Chapter 1

Another Author's Note Explanation: Okay, seriously, I'm gonna stop doing this… maybe… Anyway, I have to get this out there, everybody realized that _this (italics) _on a line by itself means that it's a thought inside someone's head, not out loud, right? Okay,thought so. And whereas usually you can tell by the way things are said who is saying them, I will be including initials at the beginning of my dialog from now on, due to the fact that there are more than two people talking… oops! Did I just give something away? Oh well... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, blah, blah, blah, or zombies.

* * *

Chapter One: Are You Feeling Alright?

* * *

_Remnants they called them, all that remained of a person after life but before complete death. The animated corpses of loved ones and enemies, all working together for one purpose; to satisfy their hunger… with human flesh._

* * *

R: "Name's Reno by the way."

Z: "Zack. And this is Cloud."

R: "What about him?"

Z: "…Red XIII? That's what I've been calling him, seems to respond."

R: "Works for me. How long we been walking?"

Z: "Dunno. Couple hours?"

R: "Where are we going?"

Z: "…Dunno. This way?"

R: "Thanks. **Very** helpful."

After their introductions, they'd actually found a road and had started to walk down along it, hoping someone might drive by and give them a lift. No one had come so far. They'd walked for about three more hours, talking the whole time. While Reno pointed out things that looked perverted, like misshapen rocks or plants that grew just a little too close together,and just generally talked to himself, Zack ignored him and talked to Red XIII and Cloud, both of which couldn't respond or actually even comprehend what he was saying, but none the less he continued on. Eventually they came upon what appeared to be a biker's bar called the "Green Chocobo" for some strange reason. Upon entering, they found the place deserted, but there was the foul stench of death or decaying... something... that made them, and Red XIII especially, uneasy to stay for too long. Had the Remnants made their way out this far already? They exited quickly and Zack had started heading back down the road with Red XIII and Cloud when he heard Reno, "OH YEAH! JACKPOT!" So, quickly locating Reno, he questioned, "What? What'd you find?"

R: "Look! Bikes! Idiots must have abandoned them here. Now... they're ours. Come on."

Z: "Hey, I'm not sure that's such a great idea, Red's acting kinda..."

R: "HOLY SHIIII-"

Reno jumped back just in time as one Remnant lunged at him, almost reaching his chest with its teeth. In a flash of silver, however, Zack had detached its head with his sword. He was re-fixing it to his back, via a few straps on his uniform meant for the sword as a holster of some sort, when he noticed Reno pull a .45 out of the back of his belt and fire it into the thing's head.

Z: "What'd you do that for? I already beheaded it."

R:** *sighs* **_(rolls eyes)_"They ain't dead till their brains are jelly. Beheading them only makes them mostly harmless."

Z: "…oh."

R: "Well, you want the one with the side car or what?"

After a few choice words on Reno's part and a very reasonable argument as to the importance of their furry friend, it was decided that Reno would take the motorcycle with the sidecar and Red XIII along with him while Zack would take the other with Cloud. Hot-wiring the motorcycles seemed almost impossible to Zack, but since they had no keys on them that went to the motorcycles they had no choice; however, it actually tuned out to not be an issue as Reno was an expert at hot-wiring.

_...Not suspicious at all..._

Admittedly, it did look kinda... funny... Zack holding onto the unconscious Cloud, (who had luckily received a new pair of clothes from the storage compartment on the sidecar motorcycle, sure they were slightly too big and they didn't really suite him, but it was better than what he'd had, because the hospital gown was not the best thing for a motorcycle ride.) but he didn't really even notice until Reno pointed it out, to which he pointed out the fact that Cloud was his little brother and couldn't well hold on for himself in his** unconscious **state. Reno just looked at him with an even more disbelieving look. Zack just rolled his eyes.

_Idiot._

They must have been on the highway to nowhere that never ends, because they must have been riding for about an hour with nothing in sight. It was getting dark, and no matter how macho and camp-out loving they both were, sleeping out in the dark in the middle of nowhere, and especially now with Remnants running around willy-nilly, didn't seem the least bit pleasant. Even worse was their empty stomachs which growled louder than Red XIII had at the Remnant earlier with the bikes. Finally after another half hour, they spotted some lights up ahead. Reno attempted to yell to Zack and warn him to be careful, but Zack couldn't hear him and instead raced on ahead. The lights were from a convenience store/gas station. There were several cars abandoned outside it and a sign reading "No Gas" was posted onto the door, but there was no immediate stench to the air, so it seemed the Remnants hadn't actually come this far yet. When Reno pulled up he was cursing loudly, real loudly, and even in some other languages, which was impressive, but only a little.

R: "Next time you do something that stupid, I'm gonna wait longer to see if you get eaten! I can't believe you! Jeez, did you learn nothing form earlier?"

Z: "Oh, when **you** almost got bit by a Remnant? Yeah, maybe I should be more careful, but let's not forget who did what earlier."

R: "…whatever. Let's take a look inside shall we?"

Z: "Wait! You just said not to rush into places you don't-Reno!"

R: "What? I'm starving. If I don't eat food, like now, I'm gonna resort to cannibalism soon, and seein' as how your brother's the most defenseless around here, he'll go first."

Z: "Yeah, right. I'd kill you first. What're you-? You're just gonna break-in? What if there's a security system?"

R: "There isn't."

Z: "How do you know?"

R: "'Cause the doors're unlocked."

Z: "…oh."

Now, the reality of the situation was that there wasn't anyone here and likely they'd never return or if they did it would be after the world woke up from this nightmare, but it still felt wrong loading up on stuff, stealing it, from the place. Well, at least it did to Zack. Reno, apparently had no qualms about it. He even took stuff he didn't actually need, like a lighter but no cigarettes, what'd he need a lighter for if he didn't smoke? They finished loading up the supplies and hit the road again, 'cause Remnants or not, the place was still creepy with all those abandoned cars in front of it.

They rode through the night, stopping once or twice for a bathroom break off the roadside, but by morning both their gas tanks were nearly empty. Another half hour and they were empty, so they got the supplies out of the cargo storage's' of both bikes and loaded them in the backpack that Reno had "acquired" at the gas station. Cloud still hadn't woken up, but since he was breathing, Zack counted it as a half victory and carried him along down the road, Reno and Red XIII following along behind him.

Roughly around noon, the heat and fatigue started getting to them and every step was more tiring than the last. It was when the road started looking like it was extending that Reno drew the line.

R: "I gotta stop for a minute..."

Z: "Reno, we're out in the middle of nowhere."

R: "Exactly, so who gives a -"

Z: "Look, you see that?"

R: "…yeah, what is that?"

Z: "A… church maybe? Well, anyway, we'll rest in there, assuming there's no Remnants inside, okay?"

R: "… fine. But if there are Remnants in there, I might just let them eat me so I don't have to walk anymore."

Z: "… your choice."

When they reached the church, as yes, it was a church, the first thing they noticed was that it was very... bloodstained. It was fresher blood too, because it wasn't exactly black yet, more in between red and brown. They also noted that the doors were bolted shut as well, but not only from the outside, so it was feasible that someone had done it to keep Remnants out rather than bolting them in, which had been the first steps taken to prevent them from attacking due to the fact that no one knew how to kill them at first. So, it was decided that one of them should take a peek through the roof, removing a few shingles and digging a hole through the wood wouldn't hurt anything. So up onto the roof Zack went, Reno was sitting on the ground and had vowed not to move unless he absolutely had too. Once on the roof, Zack noticed that there was already a small hole in the roof, so he went over and pressed into the roof to look through it when...

***CRASH***

And he was down.

R: "Yo! You okay in there!"

Getting no response, he decided he'd take a look around and see if there was another way in and proceeded around the perimeter of the church.

She'd been quite shocked when he'd come crashing in through the ceiling, partly from the fact there was a person falling from the sky, partly because he almost landed on her, and partly because she thought he was one of them. She realized he couldn't be one of them though, because she heard his ...friend? partner? outside yelling something and also because the guy talked in his sleep, and they didn't talk. He rolled over onto his side and clutched his chest and abdomen in a protective manner as he muttered some unintelligible things before shouting something about a cloud? She really didn't know what to do and was thoroughly distracted for a moment before she realized it. They were here. Jumping up, she bounded toward the back of the church.

Only a second ago, he could have sworn he heard his compadre yelling. What he was yelling, however, he didn't know. (Although it was highly doubtful he'd found a pool party lined with supermodels who had nothing better to do than party and have a good time with a zombie apocalypse going on, but still, he hoped.) So, assuming it wasn't super models, Reno decided to proceed with extreme caution and carefully continued around the building. Now, if he'd been slightly more trained or observant to the sounds of nature, perhaps he would have noticed the utter absence of sound coming from the forest which lay behind the church, but he wasn't so he didn't. The first hint that something was even remotely wrong came with the swift breeze along his neck and then the sudden pain he felt to the back of his neck along with a wet sensation as he hit the dirt. Disoriented, he spun around to realize that, yes, it was one of the Remnants.

_Did it bite me?_

Then he heard Red XIII's barking and general ruckus and realized that, crap!, he'd left Cloud over there by himself, defenseless except for the mutt. He kicked the Remnant that was nearing him and pulled his .45 out from its place and fired a round between its eyes. He soon found that there were more than "just a few" out here, the stupid things were just flooding out of the forest. He finally rounded the corner (after emptying his clip into the Remnants that were pursuing him), he really didn't want to know what had happened to Cloud and half-expected to see the Remnants in the process of eating him or fighting over his remains as they tried to gorge themselves... instead, he turned the corner to see a girl, in what used to be a white dress, beating the brains out, quite literally, of a Remnant. She was swinging her large metal rod up and down over and over again, sending bits of brain matter, blood, and bone fragments colliding with her beautiful sundress and bare skin. He observed the fear and sadness which she portrayed in her eyes was offset by her firmly set jaw and calm, serious manner in which she dispatched the Remnant gave off an "unflinching" sort of vibe... like those from SOLDIER.

She had apparently not noticed him, because she jumped slightly when he came over and started helping her get Cloud up. He thought for a minute that she was going to pummel him like she had that Remnant, but he guessed she must have realized he wasn't a threat, or at least the "eat you now" kind of threat. She lead the way toward the back of the church, which wasn't very good positioning, because just behind it was the forest where the Remnants were pouring out of. She dropped Cloud to Reno as she undid the simple barricade of wooden beams, and it was then that Reno realized just how heavy the kid actually was.

_Jeez! Kid's skinny and all, but he weighs a ton!_

A short whistle from Reno brought in Red XIII to the church and letting Cloud slump over against a wall, both Reno and the girl were able to shut the door before the Remnants could storm the church. (Sure, there were a few Remnant fingers sticking out from in between the two doors, but all in all the Remnants were outside.) Reno half-dragged Cloud over to one of the pews and, well, flung him onto it in a most uncaring manner, then walking past the flower bed glared evilly at Zack, "Sure, just sleep while I'm fighting off Remnants! Some help you two are!"

And he himself proceeded over to a pew and muttering something about "see if I care" fell asleep for the first time in two days.

"Hello?... Helloo?... Hellooooooo!"

He was quite unsure as to where he was and for that matter who's voice it was that he heard, but he heard a voice which meant he was either dead or he'd woken up from the Remnant nightmare. He was guessing he'd died, so when he opened his eyes to see a girl in a white sundress, it was entirely logical to him to ask her if she was an angel. To this comment she giggled and blushed before telling him no, and that her name was Aerith.

Author's Note: Okay, don't hate on me, but yes, I did give Reno a .45, but I mean, that would so be him, y'know? I do intend to set some things right as far as character weapons go, (I mean I did give Zack his sword, okay people? … which now leaves Cloud without one…crap!) but I just didn't see the practicality of an electro-prod rod at the moment, sue me. Oh, and yeah, I made Cloud and Zack brothers, whatever. Some things I am changing just to make it more convenient for the future of my story (and I have no clue as to Reno's actual background, family and stuff, according to the game, so I'm going to invent a nonexistent one!).Oh, how did you guys like the whole Red XIII is a big wolf-dog thing? I was trying to think of a way to include him, but he's hard to peg 'cause he's a cat…dog…thing…that talks! Well, sorry but the whole mountain lion cat thing didn't look feasible (Um, hello? He would have eaten them!), and since I'm trying to use a basis of reality, he ain't gonna talk, sue me again. (Not you Square-Enix!) I think I'm done with my rant, so... Thanks again guys! R, R, and R! (Read, Review, and Rant!)


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, blah, blah, blah, or zombies.

Chapter Two: If You Never Meant To Leave, Then You Only Had To Stay

The endless view of white had dissipated, just a little today, because the ground was now a field of flowers, white and yellow lilies, to be exact. Where as he didn't know why, it was still a welcome change as was the faint voices he would hear from time to time. He thought he could hear his brother on occasion, which was a comfort and not at the same time. He was sure he'd died, so then had his brother died too? How? How had he died himself? The more he tried to piece it together, the more he seemed to lose, so he gave up for the time being. He also wondered who the girl was that he kept hearing, her voice was sweet and soft, unlike the gruffer, louder voice of his brother. Then there was that other voice, the one that cursed profusely. That one he didn't know what to make of.

Z: "So, you protected Cloud?"

A: "Who?"

Z: "Cloud. The blonde guy. My brother, you saved his life from the Remnants?"

A: "Well, yes. But who wouldn't have? I was just trying to be helpful."

Z: "… I really owe you one. Hmm…How about one date?"

A: "Excuse me?"

Z: "One date. Me, you, a romantic evening. Well, I guess we should wait until after the world settles down a little, but I swear, after this nightmare ends, I'm gonna take you out, at least once. Okay?"

A: "… um, okay."

Z: "Score!"

R: "Get a room! (mumbles some unintelligible curses) I'm trying to sleep over here you mother-"

Z: (ignoring Reno) "I'm Zack, by the way, I already told you about Cloud, the loud and **obnoxiously rude** one is Reno, and we call him Red XIII. Sorry, I forgot to introduce us earlier, Aerith..."

R: "'Cause you were too busy flirting! Dou-"

Z: "Anyway, I have a question for you Aerith, so, you said that there were, Remnants outside, lots of them, so why aren't they trying to get in still?"

A: "Well, did you guys notice the blood on the walls outside?"

R: "Yeah, it was effin' creepy!"

A: "Well, Remnants don't eat each other, right? So me and… my mom, we covered the walls with their blood after we managed to kill the first wave of them that came here after we first escaped."

Z: "Where'd you escape from?"

A: "The slums of sector 5 in Midgar."

R: "Midgar's overrun!"

A: "No! But the slums… there just wasn't anyone down there to protect anybody, and they all just… "

Z: "What about SOLDIER? Weren't they stationed to defend in the slums?"

A: "They got called back to the upper city when all this started, so…"

R: "Well, at least the upper city's still good. Who cares about the slums."

***Whack***

R: "Geez! What was that for Zack?"

Z: "Idiot. Hey, Aerith, where is Midgar in relation to here?"

A: "North, about-"

R: "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"

A: "Do you guys have vehicles?"

R: "If we did, we wouldn't be here, why?"

A: "Because it's about a five hour walk from here to the city, and I don't know about you guys, but the prospect of walking down the road or even into the city in the dark isn't exactly the brightest idea to me."

R: "…oh. Well, da-"

So they spent the night in the church, Reno complaining of something or another every five minutes just to hear the sound of his own voice and Zack too busy taking in Aerith's form as she bent down to take care of the flowers that grew in the middle of the church to even care about Reno's complaints. True to what Aerith said, the Remnants all but left, and so the group was allowed a peaceful sleep once more. Early the next morning, however, Reno did succeed in getting Zack's attention as he woke him up and asked him to follow in a highly cryptic manner.

Z: "What's wrong? More Remnants?"

R: "…possibly. I don't know yet."

Z: "What do you mean you don't know yet?"

R: "Well, it's like this, I actually got attacked by one of the Remnants yesterday, and today, I feel kinda off, like sick, y'know? So I wanted you to just… kill me."

Z: "…What?"

R: "Dude! I am not going to die and be reanimated as one of those things! Not going to happen, so just do as I say and f-"

Z: "Reno, what are you saying?"

R: "… seriously? Okay, look, plain English. Remnant bites you, you get sick, real sick, then you die and come back as one of them things."

Z: "Are you sure?"

R: "Am I EFFIN' sure! I seen it happen! Why do you think I was in Banora? I just got back from killing my boss, that's why! And one of my partners! I killed him as he was EATING HER SPINAL COLUMN! AND SHE WAS STILL ALIVE! …felt every moment of it …put a cap in her head too, just to be safe …She swore he was just sick, that the bite wound had just gotten infected, right up until he bit her… Stupid Elena, she just didn't have the guts to end him, but the truth is you're already dead as soon as you're bitten. …so just... kill me."

Z: "…you're sure you were bitten? That's what I meant."

R: "…oh. Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure. It got the back of my neck, here."

Z: "…"

R: "See, I was right wasn't I?"

Z: "No. But there is still a piece of wood splinter still sticking out from the wound."

R: "… how?… Idiotic thing must have had some splinters on it, actually it did have a few twigs sticking out of its arms and it's tattered clothes… Stupid MOTHER-"

Z: "Yeah, I'm guessing it missed when it tried to grab you, but the wood must have hit you. Why didn't you just have Aerith check the wound when you first came in?"

R: "Dude. She beats the brains out of those things with a metal rod, like really hits 'em hard. So, whereas I'd say after the eighth hit I'd be out cold, I didn't want her beating on me while I could feel it! Your method of a quick beheading is much more my style."

Z: "So that's why you had me bring my sword!" (fist hitting palm)

R: "Uh, yeah?"

Z: " Alright, well let's go back now, seeing as I don't have to kill you anymore."

R: "Okay, but one more thing. Anybody finds out about this, I'll kill you."

Aerith was asked to bandage the back of Reno's neck as Zack didn't know how and neither Reno nor Cloud could and Red XIII, well, he's a dog… She was not given the exact details of what had caused the injury, although she did know that both he and Zack had snuck off earlier and she did hear Reno yelling some awful profanities after a little while of them being gone, but neither would speak on the subject. Zack just looked sheepish and innocent when she asked and would giggle, but Reno would just glare in the direction of Zack and not say anything. Boys!

They stayed at Aerith's church for about two weeks when all three of them realized that it wasn't going to work. The church was safe, and Reno and Zack double teamed getting firewood to cook with while Aerith tended her meager garden amidst the flowers, but their supplies were not limitless and Zack ate a lot. Reno had been begging, quite literally begging, to go to the upper city in Midgar, so today he was finally getting his wish. It had taken a ton of convincing the day before to assure Zack that the best way to make sure Cloud was safe was to leave him there in the church instead of dragging him along with them. The Remnants had not bothered them for the whole two weeks, they hadn't even seen them after their first day at the church, so it was safe. Reno consented to let Red XIII stay in the church with Cloud even, but it wasn't until Aerith talked Zack's ear off for about three hours that he finally agreed. Geez, the guy was stubborn. So they were setting out today, at around 6 in the morning so that they would be sure to get to Midgar with plenty of daylight left. Reno, deciding he was bored, instituted a new game to pass the time on the long walk.

R: "So, Zack, you were in SOLDIER right?"

Z: "Yeah, why?"

R "Just curious. What division were you in?"

Z: "…1st."

R: "1st! Holy sh-"

A: "Is that really important or something?"

Z: "I guess."

R: "Really important? You guess? Dude that's like, an elite squad, there are only like, what, FOUR people in it?"

Z: "Yeah, but it doesn't make me God or anything."

R: "Straight up, that's me. God."

A: "What were you, Reno?"

R: "Me? I was… in, uh, acquisitions? sorta?"

Z: "Pfft! Where?"

R: "Shin-Ra Electric Power company."

A: "Wow, that's cool. They're a huge conglomerate. Um, Zack? How about Cloud? What did he do?"

Z: "…Infantry. He was in the infantry."

R: "I knew a couple of guys in the infantry, what unit?"

Z: "Nibelheim defense regiment."

R: "Nibelheim? Ain't that halfway across the world? Past the big ocean?"

Z: "Yeah, well, he's from there. I was raised in Gongaga by my grandparents, sort of the son they lost, I guess."

A: "Wait, aren't you guys brothers?"

Z: "Well, yeah, we are. But only half brothers. My mom wasn't from Gongaga, but she married into the Fair family that was from Gongaga. Gongaga's made up of a lot of old people... so my dad was kinda a local celebrity, I was too, but then... the reactor, there was an incident and... my dad worked there... he died when I was little. So my mom moved back to Nibelheim where she was from and married a guy named Strife. My grandparents never really liked her, and so they fought over me, who would get custody, y'know? My grandparents had me up until they died, when I was about, hmm... 12? Then I went off to a military school... I wasn't ever really there for..."

A "..."

R: "Well, that's depressing... NEXT! You cutie, what about you?"

A: "Well, my real parents died when I was little, and my mother, my adoptive mother, adopted me. Elmyra was nice and kind, and we were all each other had, because her husband, who I never got to meet, died in the war. We were very happy, but then... all this happened... She left to go get her family in Kalm, but I haven't heard back from her yet, and..."

R: "... New subject! _(Geez, am I the only one around here without a sob story?)_ Okay, um... I spy..."

They continued on for about four and a half more hours, listening to Reno listening to the sound of his own voice.

Blinking, he shifted slightly so that the sun couldn't invade his eyes anymore. Where was he? He sat up and observed the musty, flowery smelling place, looking at the garden in the center of the room and observing all the displaced pews and finally leveling his gaze at the dog? No, wolf that was sitting right next to him staring him straight in the eyes. He sat there blinking a minute before he found his voice and with a yelp and a thud landed firmly on the floor. The dog didn't move but continued staring at him until it yawned and laid down. He wasn't quite sure where he was or what was going on, but one thing he was sure of, he really had to pee...

Author's Note: Yes, so I realized that Zack and Cloud had different last names, so one patch job later... and all's well. Oh, and yes, I realize some of you peeps are like, "Hello? Her name is Aeris because that's what it said on Final Fantasy 7, puh-lease!" But okay, so yeah, I'm one of those "I don't care whether it's Aeris or Aerith" types, (actually I usually write Aeris because I'm lazy and **s** is a lot easier to find than** t **and **h**) but I'm not the greatest person with possessives, so adding an **s** to the end of Aerith to make it possessive just makes it easier on me, so... um, get over it. Um, oh yeah, so I'm trying to make Zack a little more in character, but really? When the crap hits the fan, he gets serious. (Example, when he "kills Angeal" or thinks he's killed him anyway... when he gets the Buster Sword... he gets serious for like a whole three scenes, but still, serious.) And really, Aerith has a horrible history (which I am making worse...heh.), so yeah, even though Reno is probably the worst off here, (I'll get to that later...) he doesn't see it as so, 'cause he's Reno, and Reno only cares about Reno and getting paid, the other Turks, well he cares for them a little too... (And yes, I am going to kill off any and all characters which I see as unnecessary just so I don't get the whole "Well, where was so-and-so? Shouldn't they have been here, because in the game…" I'm not rewriting the game, so no, so-and-so was not there and actually they died, the end. Sorry to all you people who that just hurt, but I get annoyed with the whole, "according to the storyline" **that I'm not USING!** bit.) So, yeah, I killed off Elena and Tseng... but they died kinda cool... sorta... more baggage for Reno! Oh well, so I'm done ranting... Thanks! R, R, and R peeps! (No, seriously, I have like no reviews. I'm about to not sign in and review my own stuff as anonymous, so please, review!)


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, blah, blah, blah, or zombies.

* * *

Chapter Three: Was Ist Los? Es Ist Party Angesagt!

Upon entering the outskirts of Midgar, it seemed like the place was totally deserted. There wasn't even a Remnant in sight as they passed through the Sector 6 slums and up the railway to the main city, so they did let down their guard, just slightly. They were getting comfortable as they turned the corner to Loveless Avenue, Zack leading the way followed by Aerith and then Reno bringing up the rear. As soon as he'd turned the corner Zack held out his arm to stop Aerith and also as sort of a protective manner as he started, "Oh-" It took Reno approximately 2 seconds to register what was going on after he turned the corner as well and he finished Zack's statement with "SHIIIIIIII-" as the three of them took off running from what looked like the entire populous of Midgar, only now they were Remnants.

Zack and Aerith ducked into an alley way and although Zack tried to get Reno he couldn't. Reno was possibly the fastest person he'd ever seen, and he was SOLDIER 1st class! Winding through some buildings and more alleyways they finally came upon a deserted, or mostly deserted, mall. Zack dispatched most of the Remnants inside, but Aerith still got in a few whacks, and grabbing 2 backpacks they proceeded to gather up supplies. They only hoped Reno would last until they could find him again, so after grabbing enough, or as much as they could carry safely, they went out to go track down Reno, or they would have, but then they noticed...

"-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" He was beginning to ponder saying a prayer instead of cursing, but decided against it as a hand impacted with his face and pulled him into an alley on his left. Before he even looked to see if it was a Remnant, he bit down on the hand and drew his .45 in one smooth movement, only to realize that it wasn't a Remnant, which was lucky for him because you really shouldn't bite those things.

"Why'd ya bite me fool? You one of dem things after all?"

"Ugh. You taste bad." _(Spits into alley floor.)_

"Fool! Quit jabberin' an jes' follow me!"

"...whatever."

So Reno followed the man with the prosthetic right arm and actually stayed mostly quiet, taking in the ruins of Midgar as they passed through alleys and stores, where they were going, he wasn't sure.

Getting accustomed to the huge... dog... had taken him a few minutes, but since it wasn't hurting him, he figured it was domestic. He still didn't exactly know where he was, but he was certain it was a church, but why all the stained glass windows were boarded up? He couldn't even fathom a guess, well, okay, maybe it was abandoned... that might account for it. But why was he here, in an abandoned church? He decided he'd take a look around, and after surveying the entire inside, he decided to look around outside.

Zack had actually almost hit her when she first ran out of her hiding place, but luckily his reflexes were still pretty good and he was able to stop his arms mid-swing. She'd run out and immediately attached herself to his leg, the small brown-haired girl. Aerith pried her away from Zack's leg just long enough to see the girl was crying and get her name. Marlene. It was obvious she'd been in here for a few days at the least, judging from the state of her hiding place... Well, of course they weren't going to leave her, but it did mean one more mouth to feed. However, those two were never ones to weigh the pros and cons of adding another person to the group, so Zack lifted her up and placed her securely on his shoulders. The now three some wandered their way through the rest of the maze like mall and finally caught a break as they found a way out that wasn't surrounded by Remnants.

After climbing the thirteenth ladder, Reno'd had enough. Enough climbing up the side of one building only to go down the other side and then climb another, he wasn't going to do it anymore.

"I'm done."

"What? You jes' gonna sit up 'ere and get chewed? Be my guest. But we's almost there."

"Where?"

"That old Shin-Ra headquarters, they was Nazis, but man, they had good security..."

"... Oh. Then why'd you stop here? Come on let's go old guy."

"What? Wait you jes' a minite! Where you get off calling me 'old guy'? Spiky red-haired punk a-"

And so the two of them made their way toward Shin-Ra headquarters, and upon getting there, Reno pulled out his security card and swiped it in the door... probably not his best plan of action considering the person he was with.

"Yo! You with Shin-Ra? I should'a known!"

"Whoah! Hey! You can drop the gun, before I drop you."

"Because of you people... MARLENE!"

"Who the f-... is MARLENE?"

"She was my daughter, but den you igits decided to drop the plate on Sector 7 to save yo' precious upper city and she was... DA-"

"**Hey**, I didn't know your daughter was in that mess when I **dropped** the plate... oops."

"You did it? You **DROPPED THE PLATE**! You'll pay you MOTHER-"

***BLAM***

He had noted that all the doors were boarded up, but again he just thought that it was because the place was abandoned, so he removed the heavy beams at the back door and walked out into the blistering sunlight. The dog had followed him, and pranced out to the field and relieved itself.

_ Well, now what?_

He decided that maybe he'd find somebody if he headed out, maybe find a town or something? So with the dog following along, he headed out. It was lucky he didn't bother to look at the outside of the church, as that probably would have lead to more questions without answers, not the best thing in the world.

They'd been diving in and out of buildings for a little over an hour, Zack leading the way with Marlene still firmly planted on his shoulders burying her head in his hair and Aerith following behind them. It was getting dark, so the two adults decided it would be best to find someplace that was safe, or at least safer, to spend the night. They found such a place after a brief period of looking, a rooftop with only a single stairwell leading up to it. Sure, they'd be stuck if a horde of Remnants pursued them up there, but then again they could only come through two or three at a time at max, so eventually Zack and Aerith could get the upper hand and win the fight in the long run. The building was also a decent distance away from the others, but the Remnants weren't known for their prowess at long jumping anyway, sure an athletic person could probably jump it if they really tried, Zack could definitely, but as long as one of them kept watch, it wasn't something they worried about. Neither Aerith nor Zack got any sleep, they just couldn't get to sleep, but at least Marlene went to sleep, she was probably exhausted. It was about four in the morning when they heard noises at the door, Remnants they assumed, and Zack stood up to go investigate, finding to his surprise a living person on the opposite side of the door. "Please, let me in! There are some coming up after me, but you've gotta help me!" she pleaded, her hazel eyes begging along with her. Well, it wasn't like he was going to say no, so he removed the barrier they'd set up and pulled her in just in time to see the first Remnant filing up the staircase. He waved to Aerith, and she knew it meant they were leaving, so she woke up Marlene and picked up her pack. Zack scooped Marlene up onto his shoulders once more and backed up to the opposite side of the building. Instructing Marlene to hold on tight, he took off running and leaped as he got to the edge, landing just barely on the next building over. He called out to the new girl saying he'd catch her if she missed by a bit while setting Marlene down with his pack. She gulped, then did the same that he'd done catching onto the side of the building and having to be pulled up by him. Next it was Aerith's turn, first she tossed her pack across and then she backed up to the opposite side and ran then leaped, and except that he caught her hands and pulled her in falling over himself when he did so, she would have landed in the alley below. Running jumps, not her strong point. Again hoisting Marlene onto his shoulders, Zack began to lead the now foursome through the winding maze of Midgar.

"Dude! Your aim sucks!" he shouted back at the man with the gun as he pulled his own out of his belt. "Now, really, drop it or I'll drop you. I don't miss." The man with the prosthetic arm just glared evilly for a moment before finally dropping his gun and as per Reno's instructions slid the gun over to him using his foot. Reno picked the gun up, never taking his own gun off of the man, and finding it to be a .45 as well ejected the clip and replaced it inside his own gun severely confusing the other man.

"What'd you do that fer?"

"Dude, I've been out of bullets for weeks. Thanks for the reload!"

"You was jes' bluffin'?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm good at it, right?"

And the cocky red-head walked off into the building not concerned in the slightest about his new buddy glaring holes into his back. The two apparently didn't notice the half-torn sign that was posted to the door, which read: "Quarantine: Do Not Enter. All Dead Inside."

Crazy Author's Monologue: Yes, I'm evil, cliffhangers are my favorite though... Oh, so I decided to discontinue the initial in front of quote crap, it was distracting. Oh, yes, I did split the gang up so that I could write about twenty different things happening at once. (BTW: Zack and Aerith are not that heartless that they forgot about Reno, well maybe Zack did but that's 'cause he's an idiot, in the most cute and loveable sense, but they are looking out for Marlene and now the new brunnette, hmm, WHO COULD SHE BE? I wonder... Oh, and the man with the prosthetic right arm, hmm... I wonder... (LOL!) Hey, thanks, and R, R, and R! Okay, peeps? ...Wow, not a long speech this time, huh. (Oh, and you guys would have had this much earlier, but FanFiction had an error that wouldn't let me upload, okay? I'm not that lazy... So the next chapter might come soon too...)


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own characters, blah, blah, blah, or zombies.

Chapter Four: ...Is The One Thing I Need Before I Die!

"My name is Tifa. Tifa Lockhart." The new brunette said as they approached the fire escape of the current rooftop the group was on. "Aerith Gainesborough, nice to meet you." "I'm Zack, and as far as we can tell, this is Marlene on my shoulders here." He replied with a grin to which Tifa responded with, "Marlene? ...are you from Sector 7 by any chance?" her voice slightly cracking as she spoke, Tifa waited anxiously for the girl's reply, much to the confusion of the two others in the group. "I used to live there with papa…" the girl replied weakly through Zack's hair and Tifa asked in a very cracked voice if her last name was Wallace, to which the girl nodded "yes". Flabbergasted, Tifa spoke again, her excitement taking over, "You're alive! I saw your dad just the other day! I know where he is! We thought you were dead! Oh, he'll be so happy!" "Really?" the girl said through her shock and Zack asked her second question before she could, "Where is her dad? We have to reunite them!" "He told me to meet him at the old Shin-Ra headquarters, their security system wasn't all electric, y'know? I was supposed to gather supplies and then we were going to wait out the nightmare there. I just know we'll find him there!" And off the four-some went, with a spring in their step at finally hearing some good news for the first time since all this started.

"… hey, name's Barett. What's yer name, red?"

"Well, heck if I'm telling' you, gimpy! Ya just tried ta kill me, what's with the gettin' acquainted all the sudden?"

"Nothin'! Jes thought you'd like ta know my name 's' all, ya jack-"

"Aw, shaddap, would'ja? Jeez, I can't even hear myself think! Now which floor was that on…?"

"Listen you Shin-Ra scum! I ain't 'bout to be taken' none o' your sh-"

"AHA! I remembered! Floor 59, here I come!"

"You even listenin'!"

But no, Reno wasn't and he proceeded up the stairwell, "Gimpy" as he dubbed him following along behind. Floor 59 was a very long way from the 1st floor…

Well, walking had turned into a bad idea, a very bad idea. it was hot, humid, and the fly population must have been epic that year too, because the only living things out here other then him and the dog appeared t be flies, loads of them! The dog got nervous overtime they ran into a particularly dense population of the flies, but then he got angry too, so it didn't seem unnatural to him. He finally emerged from the forest only to discover barren wasteland, not a car or person in sight. Well, his was getting interesting… not. Head hung low he trudged on, ignoring his stomach which was trying to get across the fact that it was lunchtime, and also ignoring the dog which had taken to growling every so often.

"…Marlene? Daddy jes wanted to see yo' face one mo' time, an' I guess I'll be there soon sweetheart…"

"What? You crazy! Keep walkin', ain't much further!"

"That's… what you said… two flights ago… huff…I can't go on..."

"Gawd, just die then, jeez. Why am I even pretendin' to care?"

"Fine… but jes… don't let dem things… eat me…"

"Whatever! I'll let 'em eat you, then I'll just shoot you in the head… Deserve it anyway, 'cause your such a crap shot… Do these things ever end!"

"Heh…heh, heh…heh…"

"Quit it! You're givin' me th' creeps!"

"Heh, yo jes like me now… sick of these d- stairs…"

"… I ain't never gonna be like you, for one, I can shoot a gun and hit a target, an' two? I'm just better."

"Why you cocky, stuck-up, jack-!"

"What? Truth hurt?"

"Rargh! When I get my hands on you…!"

"Ha! That'll never happen, 'cause you gotta catch me fist! LOSER! GIMPY! JACK-"

Now had Reno predicted what would be waiting for him on the other side of the door to the 59th floor, he might've been a little quieter, maybe. But as it was then, when he shouted the last part of his taunt at Barett, he could be heard clear to the 67th floor. When he slammed open the doors to the 59th floor, the only thing he could think to do, before run, was say, "This's been happenin' to me a lot recently…" And he took off in the path of least resistance up to the stairs which led to the 60th floor, Barett following close behind as the massive hoards of Remnants chased after them.

The silence of their journey was only broken by the grunts and groans of the undead surrounding their relatively safe rooftop path, only a few times they'd had to stop and fend off remnants. It was during those stops that Zack and Aerith finally figured out why Tifa was wearing long, thick gloves that covered her arms past her elbows, almost all the way to her shoulders and on top of them smaller black leather gloves over her hands, she fought close combat. If she hadn't had the arm coverings, she'd more than likely be one of them by now, because they'd have bitten her and it not be counter-acted by her makeshift leather armor. This observation and the few varied encounters they had, the trip toward Shin-Ra headquarters was very uneventful, that is, until they reached their destination...

"I thought you said this place was safe! You gimpy in the head too?" Reno shouted as they passed the 63rd floor, there really wasn't any point in keeping quiet, the whole **freaking** building knew they were there by now. "Crap! Detour!" Reno said as he dodged left out to the 64th floor, leaving Barett to navigate around the Remnant that had charged at him and leaving the stairwell entirely. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, SHIIIIIII-" Reno said as he dove to avoid a vicious bite meant for him. Then he saw it! His luck was comin' back baby!

It was starting to get dark out and he was rather tired of walking too, but just where on earth was he? He still couldn't see anything out in the vastness that was the open plain he was on... wait... was that a farm? It was! Yes! Now at least he wouldn't have to spend his night outside in the dark with no idea where he was, because he could at least borrow their phone and call his squad or his brother, whichever answered sooner. Arriving at the farm, which looked very deserted, he started to second guess whether he'd be able to use a phone, it really didn't look like there would be a working one in this run-down place. Had the whole world become run-down or something? Out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement and shouting a "hello" proceeded over toward the man who had also started heading toward him after he'd announced his presence. The dog, however, began backing away, growling in a very guttural, low way.

Boo-yah! Flamethrower, baby! Well, okay, so it was a can of aerosol and the lighter he'd stolen from that gas station, but it worked the same, apparently zombies don't deal well with fire, which was good to know. Actually, Reno didn't really think anyone dealt well with their flesh being burned away from their skin and muscles, rotten or not. Pretty soon, he'd cleared a path to a doorway on the 64th floor, a door which lead to almost exactly what he was looking for, so maybe a trip to the 49th floor SOLDIER's armory wouldn't hurt either, but a trip to the weapons testing and development room wasn't too bad itself. He kept the flames going as his new partner bolted shut the door. "What the he- was that in the stairwell! I almost got eaten, fool!" "You're here by the grace of me, so shut it!" Reno retorted, saddened by his realization the aerosol can was used up, and tossing it aside, he proceeded to look through the weapons storage. "Ooh, look at this! … I have no clue what it is." he said as he proceeded over to a weapon of some sort, but the only people who would have known what it was were Remnants now. "Hey! Look-y here! What's this? 'Electro-prod rod?' Sounds nifty!" "You done shoppin', princess? 'Cause we needs to be getting' outta here, if ya are." The other said, ruining Reno's perfectly good mood with his sour one, didn't everyone love weapons that doubled as tortured devices as much as he did? Apparently not. So gathering what weapons seemed useful into a messenger bag that one of the scientists must have left in their mad rush to leave the building, all the explosives, and a paper clip, just to be safe, he proceeded to smash open the window and climb out onto the ledge, the tiny ledge, that laid outside the window sill. "What? You aren't coming?" he asked the wide-eyed man left inside in a most nonchalant way, as if he were asking the man a basic question, such as what does two plus two equal?

Hmm, that guy has a pretty bad limp was the only thing that ran through his mind as he started to approach the shambling undead farmer who used to own the place. He would have been the thing's next meal, except the kid who'd been hiding from said farmer zombie jumped from his hiding spot, and grabbing a piece of a metal pipe, bashed in the head of said undead monster. Once he'd knocked the thing down, he proceeded to pound in it's skull until Cloud rushed over and stopped him, asking, "What are you doing? Why did you kill that man?" To which the boy responded, "He was already dead! What nonsense are you talkin' about?" "What? That's insane, he was walking toward me, can dead people do that?" "Yeah!" "What! No, they can't." "Well, not really dead people, but he was a Remnant, so yeah!" "...What is a Remnant?" "...What?" After a brief description and the boy poking the thing's head to reveal it only had half a jaw, which proved well enough that the guy had been dead before he'd bashed in his brains, the boy introduced himself to the very confused Cloud, "I'm Denzel. What's your name? Where have you been mister, under a rock? 'Cause I thought everybody knew about the Remnants, least everybody I've seen so far did." "...Cloud. I... I woke up yesterday in an abandoned church..." "Woke up? Were you in a coma or something?" "...maybe? Where are all the other people you know, isn't anyone with you?" "...they're... gone. I'm here alone, I just came to see if this place had any canned food, the only thing that's worth anything anymore, but then this farmer zombie saw me, so I was hiding from him until you distracted him." "...I see. Um, do you want to come with me? I'm looking for my brother." "...Really? Can I? ...Hey, is your dog friendly?" At this, Cloud finally realized that the dog was with him again and replied, "I don't know, he's not mine. He was there when I woke up and followed me here. C'mon, let's get inside, we can spend the night inside instead of out here, okay?" And the two proceeded with caution into the house where they spent the night secured in the bathroom, the kid sleeping in the tub with the dog and Cloud slumped against the wall, but he didn't sleep a wink that night, nor was he likely to sleep much in the future... this was a lot to take in, how had all this happened? Was this just a dream? Would he wake up soon? If this had really all happened, just like the kid said, was his brother even still alive?

Crawling along the ledge outside the window was very scary, well at least it was for Barett, apparently Reno had no issues risking his life on a high ledge. He also had no issues with sliding down a very unsafe looking pipe, down to the level below, floor 63 was it? "Why you doin' all o' dis?" "Dude, gotta get to the 49th floor, which is down!" Reno replied back with a touch of sarcasm in his tone. "Well, why's I gotta do it?" "Don't. Stay up there and rot for all I care, I'm sure the Remmies will let you into their club, after they eat you." and as he finished saying that, Reno broke into the building through the window. Sliding in deftly, he noted that, indeed, he had chosen a good room, there weren't any zombies inside, and the door was shut, bigger bonus… well, sorta… because the door was shut, he couldn't see what was waiting outside, but also they couldn't get in, so it was win-lose? The crashing sound he heard behind him he assumed to be Barett and he was right, apparently landing was not his thing. "Quiet! You wanna draw 'em all here? Jeez…" Reno whispered violently at the klutz behind him and that was the last thing either of them said to each other until they managed to get to the 49th floor, how was a miracle for neither of them at the time had any idea how they'd gotten through undetected. Loading up on guns, swords, just about anything he could carry and still maintain a good degree of mobility with, he grabbed. Reno was a pack-rat by nature it seemed… a looter too, because even Barett who hated the Shin-Ra so much he was previously a member of a anti-Shin-Ra terrorist organization couldn't force himself to take as much stuff as Reno did from the place. "Well, let's go before we get mobbed again." Reno said casually, like he just didn't like the idea of a crowd rather than the idea of possibly getting eaten, guy had a death-wish Barett was fairly certain. Reno sauntered on over to the elevator and as he started to pry it open using a sword he'd just acquired, Barett thought it would be a good idea to add his two cents worth, "Why you's openin' the elevator, fool? We ain't got no electricity!" Actually, we do 'cause Shin-Ra Inc. has tons of back-up energy generators, otherwise we wouldn't have made it through the front door, but that's beside the point, just how many zombies does it take to pick up a sword or some such flat object and pry open an elevator shaft?" "...Dunno? One? Two? What kinda question is that anyway?" "...really? One or two? JUST HOW STUPID ARE YOU? Them things is dead, they ain't thinkin' 'bout pryin' open no elevator, moron! The only thing they're thinkin' is 'nom-nom-nom, peoples's tasty', or somethin' like that. You are so... dumb." Reno was thoroughly disgusted with his dimwitted partner, and he let him know it in true Reno fashion. Finally winning against the elevator door, Reno jumped right into the dark abyss that was the elevator shaft, not even thinking about the consequences that would have resulted if the electricity was still coursing through the metal wiring he grabbed onto... luckily it wasn't. Barett followed cautiously behind him, although with a prosthetic arm, he followed rather slowly.

When Zack, Aerith, Tifa, and Marlene neared the old Shin-Ra headquarters, they were shocked by what they saw. Standing in the middle of a what used to be a massive undead horde were two men, just as the last sounds of a firearm dissappated into the air, the thinner of the two turned and shot the other man, right in the head, execution style. The shooter, Zack and Aerith realized, was Reno, his eyes cold and vacant as he stared at the still falling corpse of the man he'd just shot. Before they could ask him anything though, Zack heard a screech come from behind his head, "DADDY!"

Crazy Author's Monologue: Yes, I did just end the chapter there. Ha! {Again, I remind you, I'm evil.} So, yes, What happened in Shin-Ra head quarters? ...You guessed it, you'll just have to play into my evil plan and keep reading to ever figure that one out. I plan to revisit Shin-Ra headquarters in later chapters, so yup, it's the suspense part of this story. Um, oh yeah, I can do lots of stuff still with Shin-Ra headquarters, 'cause it's been a whole day right, since they got there, but since I wasn't specific on time following Barett and Reno... ha, I win. So yeah, R, R, and R peeps! I'll be waiting!


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: We Gonna Light It Up, Like It's Dynamite

"What did you do! He was alive!" Tifa screeched as she ran over to Reno and attempted to punch him, but he dodged and she ended up almost falling into a deceased, truly deceased, Remnant lying on the ground. "Don't you try ta hit me again lady, I'll kill you." he said with the same icy glare in his eyes, a truly frightening countenance by any standards. Tifa didn't try to hit him again, but instead tried to make him miserable by bringing Marlene into the equation, "How could you shoot this little girl's father right in front of her eyes? What kind of twisted are you?" At this new accusation, he raised an eyebrow, "Me? You're usin' th' kid ta try an' make me feel bad, so what kinda twisted are you? Besides, he wasn't human no more, well, he wouldn'ta been in a day or two anyway, they got him, one o' them bit him, see right here." he said as he pointed to Barett's left arm, his real arm, and a certain spot on the arm that bore a bite mark. "So what? You didn't have to shoot him in front of his own daughter!" "Listen, you b-" "GUYS!" At Aerith's sudden outburst the two quieted and Reno lowered his gun, really not a smart move for Tifa to start a fight with a guy who apparently had no problem shooting people, just sayin'. "I think we should leave, now. If we do that we might be able to reach the church by nightfall, so stop causing more trouble for Marlene with your fighting and be respectful!" Reno couldn't argue with that idea, but he also had an idea of his own, and he just loved fireworks. "Uh, I left something in th' lobby! Be right back!" he said as he dashed inside and the exited quickly soon afterward followed by a few slow moving Remnants. Using the tactics that had conveyed Zack, Aerith, Marlene, and Tifa here safely before, the rooftop climbing, they were able to move through the upper city quite quickly, it was the re-entry into the slums that they ran into trouble.

"Hey! Look! Peaches!" Denzel exclaimed as he pulled the can out of the cupboard, "Tons of them! Guy must have really liked them, ya think?" "...Sure." Cloud responded in his normal stoic manner, he had never been much of a talker, and now he might even have been less of one. "I wonder if there's a pack or something around here..." Denzel said out loud to himself as he meandered through the house with Red following him, making sure to stay close to where Cloud was. He eventually found a backpack, it was a kid's backpack, a young boy's by the style and the name which was embroidered onto it, "Billy." "Well, at least we can gather some supplies in this." Denzel confirmed out loud to himself again, this kinda reminded Cloud of what his brother, Zack used to do whenever he came for a visit, talk for the sake of breaking the silence, something Cloud always appreciated in the house filled with uncomfortable silence whenever the "lost son" of his mother's would visit their family. He looked up to his brother, a lot, he just hoped he'd get to see him again to tell him that, he wasn't sure he ever had. Once Denzel had gather just about everything he wanted, he asked, "So, where are we going?" "Fort Condor, if there is any information as to where my brother was last stationed, it would be there." "Okay! Maybe they have supplies there too!" "Maybe the fort is still up and running..."

It seemed like the slums had filled up with Remnants after they'd initially passed through, but the thing was, Reno couldn't very well shoot the things, too much noise and the whole of Midgar would be on them again, so he was almost useless in this situation… almost. He could still wield a lead pipe like no other, which he did. This made the fight slightly more even on their part, but Zack was limited now in his own movements by the fact that Marlene was on his shoulders. This didn't stop him from giving it all that he could though, and the group managed to make it out of the whole city by nightfall, the rest of the march toward the church was in utter darkness, however. Well, not entirely...

They had made their way through the marshes that laid beyond the farmlands and, although the snakes in that place were huge, they managed to do so before 1 in the afternoon. After the two-some exited the marshes, they were faced with another issue. An old mine. Climbing through the boarded up doorway had been easy enough, but Cloud wondered if it had been boarder up before or after the calamity, a thought that was ditto'd by Denzel, so both proceeded quietly and cautiously through the mine. After walking in a complete circle, Cloud finally broke the silence, figuring they had already walked around once and there were noRemnants. "Denzel, do you have a watch?" "No, why?" "Well, I can't tell how long we've been in here." "How could you tell the time earlier then?" "By the sun." "You can do that?" "Well, yeah, not as good as everybody else though." "Wow. Can you teach me? I don't even know how to do that at all!" "Maybe. But first we have to get out of here." "Okay, well we walked that way, so maybe this way instead this time?" "Sounds good, stay close." And the two proceeded through a new set of winding tunnels Red XIII following along casually.

"Heh,heh,heh…" was the last thing they heard before the entire area was bathed in radiant light and the ground around them quaked violently with vibrations from the shockwave of the blast. "YEAH!" Reno yelled at the top of his lungs, in true pyromaniac fashion as he watched the sky light up with fire and smoke from the explosion behind them. "What happened?" Aerith breathed as she released her solid grip on Zack's shirt. "I solved the Remnant problem in Midgar." Reno proudly proclaimed as Tifa drew a fist. Punching at him, she screamed, "What if there were other people in there! Like me and Marlene were, not to mention Barret!" "Look chick," Reno started as he dodged a punch and then another from Tifa, "It ain't likely there was anybody else, an' even if there was, it was a quick painless death, more than they could have hoped for from the Remnants, so just shut it, 'kay?" Aerith was trying to get the two to stop fighting, well Tifa to stop punching and kicking and Reno to stop antagonizing and dodging, when Zack spoke up, "I have to agree with Reno on this one." "Zack!" "Well, I mean, I don't think there was anyone else there and it makes sense not to let that many Remnants live, but I got a question for you Reno, just how did you manage to rig the whole city to blow like that? (It was kinda cool.)" "The reactors. They're all connected by subterranean tunnels, just in case one ever overheated or something, they can vent to each other and release pressure, but anyhow, you blow up one with enough force and it will chain to the other reactors, supposing the tunnels are open. So all I had to do was set the self-destruct up on one of them, open the tunnels, shut the regular vents, and **Kablooey!** Bye-bye, Midgar. Nifty, huh?" "So… supposing we hadn't made it out and were still fighting our way out of there right now?" Aerith had an idea now, but it wasn't one she hoped to be true, just for the sake of Tifa ever calming down today. "We'd be crispy." "Thought so." Zack just shook his head and smiled at his crazy pyromaniac friend as he continued down the path, Tifa now having a new reason to hate the red head. Aerith just sighed heavily as they walked back in the pitch black darkness that had settled back around them, eventually clutching onto Zack's shirt again to steady herself and to make her feel less uneasy in the darkness.

"Well... I guess whatever that was it's over now..." Cloud stated flatly as Denzel unbraced his arms from above his head. "But what was it, Cloud?" "I'm not sure... maybe just an earthquake... that is what normally causes the ground to shudder and quake violently like that..." "Yeah... but animals can normally sense earthquakes, right? That's what my momma used to say... But Red didn't even whimper until the ground was actually shaking..." "Look, I'm no expert, and I can't say that you aren't right about the whole animal thing, but what I do know is it does us no good to debate about something that already happened, let's just go, okay?" Cloud hadn't really meant to snap like that, but his lack of sleep was starting to catch up with him as well as his frustration with the maze on tunnels they were stuck in. Denzel agreed with a silent nod trying not to provoke Cloud who was mad at him for a reason he couldn't understand and the two wove through the rest of the winding tunnels and corridors until finally, just at daybreak, they emerged from the old mine shaft with Fort Condor fully in sight.

"Haleluah! Light!" Reno exclaimed as he jumped for joy at seeing the sun rising over the horizon, a jump which resulted in more as he realized that the dark shadow in the distance was actually Aerith's church. "Yeah! Home at last! No more road trips, 'kay guys?" "...Reno, you were the one who insisted upon this one." Aerith finally pointed out, slightly tired of Reno after having traveled a whole night in utter darkness and being quite worn out on top of that. Zack smiled widely as he began telling Marlene all about his brother which they would soon meet-up with again to which Marlene silently listened, she hadn't spoken since the incident at Shin-Ra headquarters. Tifa glowered in the background as they approached, her evil glare fixed onto Reno until, upon approaching the church, her gaze was suddenly directed over to Zack who shouted out a name or something, she didn't exactly catch it, and ran inside Marlene gripping onto his hair for dear life. "Cloud! Cloud! Where are you!"

Author's "well, crap, I finally got a review then I forgot to update" Note: So, yeah, didn't get to what actually happened at Shin-Ra headquarters yet… or what all weapons Reno actually has with him either… and yes, just to make sure there was no confusion, the earthquake that Denzel and Cloud experienced was caused by the epic blowing up of Midgar by Reno. (I secretly always wanted to blow it up!) So yes, Tifa epic despises Reno… but she kinda always did? I mean, she hated Shin-Ra… Oh, yeah, so I haven't decided how kosher I'm gonna be on Tifa's storyline, she does know Cloud though and they did still grow up in the same town (where she was the queen "B", if you get my drift! ;P), but other than that… yeah, no promises. Oh, yes, I realized that this was a short chapter, which is why I had it done and totally forgot to actually update, sorry. There will be a following chapter posted relatively soonish, however, because of this, so yeah. And BTW: Thank you my reviewer, UltimateNinjaOfDoom! You gave me hope and also the will to continue posting this little fiction (yes, I was just about to say "screw it!" and not post anymore.) but apparently you realize that FF7 vs. Zombie apocalypse = Epic, just like I did, so again, thank you. Request a one shot from me, I'll write it for you, okay? (this only applies to my first reviewer, UltimateNinjaOfDoom, and if this makes you others sad, well you should have reviewed. epic hurt face :*( Oh, and I promise to get to the hilarious once again, (yeah, I wish I didn't kill Barret now... but the story demanded it...) but give me a minute... I mean, Next chapter: Reno tries to cheer Zack up? Yeah... that's gonna work out great... hint of sarcasm ;) **R, R, and R, okay peeps!** (now that I know you're out there, you can't pretend you don't exist anymore... *evil smiles*)


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